Transcript Myth and Religion in Ancient Egypt

MYTH AND RELIGION
IN ANCIENT EGYPT
CREATION MYTH
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Like all cultures, there is a creation myth in the religion of
Ancient Egypt
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At first there was nothing but chaotic oceans, and out of this
chaos magically rose wet ground where the sun god AmonRe (AKA Atum, Ra) appeared out of nothing
It’s pretty boring here.
I should make some
babies or something.
CREATION MYTH
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Since there was nothing, Amon-Re produced the first divine
couple:
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Shu was god of air and Tefnut was goddess of moisture
CREATION MYTH
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Shu and Tefnut then had twins, Geb (god of earth) and Nut
(goddess of the sky)
Geb and Nut wanted to marry each other, and Amon-Re got
upset; he ordered Shu to raise Nut into the sky which divided
the heavens and earth
CREATION MYTH
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Despite being separated, Geb and Nut had kids anyway (why
not right?): Osiris (god of the earth and vegetation), Isis
(goddess of female fertility), Seth (god of the desert),
Nephthys (goddess of the dead)
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This group of nine gods (Amon-Re, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut,
Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys) are known as the Ennead of
Egypt and were worshipped all over the civilization
CREATION MYTH
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Osiris because the first pharaoh of Egypt, and his brother
Seth became jealous; Osiris and Isis had a child of their own,
Horus
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Seth decided it would be a good idea to kill Osiris and cut
him into little pieces, so he did that and became pharaoh
himself
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Isis was distraught and searched around for the pieces of
Osiris; when he was restored to life he became god of the
dead
CREATION MYTH
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Horus soon overthrew Seth and became pharaoh himself,
which transformed him into god of the sky and heaven
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Nephthys and Seth had their own child too, Anubis, who
became guide to the afterlife and was an important figure in
embalming rituals
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
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Since the Ancient Egyptians didn’t have modern science to
figure out why things worked the way they did, they used a
religious system to explain everything
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They ended up with a polytheistic religion which had over 80
deities representing everything from the sun (Amon-Re) to
the creation of humans (Khnum)
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Individual towns even had their own gods to worship, and
even individual households worshipped their own gods
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
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The gods were, for the most part, anthropomorphic (had
human bodies with animal heads)
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The animals represented the qualities of the god
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
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Ancient Egyptians believed Khnum made babies on his
pottery wheel and placed them inside their mothers’ wombs
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Khnum also created the ka (soul) and ba (personality) of
humans
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The ka lived in the heart until death when it separated from the body,
the ba lived in the greater body and left at death too
If the body was properly preserved, the ka and the ba could be
restored to the dead
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
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In addition to worshipping gods, Ancient Egyptians
worshipped their dead ancestors
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So, they took great care in maintaining the tombs of their
ancestors and kept busts of them in their homes
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
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There were temples for the high-ranking citizens to worship
gods at with priests
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Ordinary folk just worshipped gods at home or at small
shrines, but were still able to attend religious festivals
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
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Since there were so many gods, religious cults developed
and were devoted to specific gods and even pharaohs
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For example, Amenophis I was the first pharaoh to be buried
in the Valley of the Kings and people made shrines to him in
their homes and along the Nile.
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
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By the time of the New Kingdom, citizens were using oracles
to communicate with the gods
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Citizens also wore amulets as a way to combat evil
RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
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The Ancient Egyptians were quite superstitious as shown by
their use of amulets and oracles, but also because certain
days of the week and times of day were thought to be lucky
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Dreams were thought to tell the future and many people
even recorded their dreams in books
THE AFTERLIFE
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The most lasting concept that the Ancient Egyptians gave us
is that of the afterlife
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Because of this, there was an intense ritual surrounding the
preparation of the body, or mummification, as well as the
storage of the body.
REVIEW VIDEOS
Ancient Egyptian Religion and Myths
Christianity and Ancient Egyptian Religion